Eagle hiring email
 

I received an email last week from Eagle announcing lower minimum times. Given what I have read here though, it seems hiring is generally slowing down. Is Eagle one who is still hiring at a decent clip or are they struggling to find applicants due to the long upgrade times?

think a struggle to find qualified applicants is what lead to the lowering of the hiring minima. How "strong" the hiring is over there, im unsure, but i'd expect it to taper off (just as everyone else has) for the next few months. So, they're still hiring, but....it's not Summer 07 again.

Latest I heard from the training department is 2 classes of 30 as far as the eye can see. I started in Jan and I already have almost 200 behind me. They are still hireing like crazy.

Short answer:
Expect hiring to continue for a good while. If you haven't read the thread about service changes for the summer, do so then read the rest of this post.

Long Answer:
(please keep in mind that this is my opinion based on second-hand information from an ALPA rep who got the info second-hand...insert grain of salt)

American has been coming to Eagle for months saying that they want increased flying out of ORD (while almost every other 50-seat operator is cutting back). For months, Eagle management has said, no we cant do it, we don't have the staffing to do this. At this point American said that they would like to shuffle flying out of STL and into the ORD system. Eagle management being wise to the fact that having "blue chickens" or AX airplanes at ORD may result in fist fights suggested that Connection do some of Eagles ERJ flying out of MIA (already being conducted mostly by ORD crews) and expand the ORD flying with the crews that are no longer needed in MIA.

One of the theories of whole-ownership is that it inherently decreases costs. Aside from some very limited savings through shared facilities and weather/phys. on call/planning/medical, the bulk of cost benefits comes from the fact that Eagle does not have to make a profit. That is AMR makes a profit for the total seats sold on AA/AE and does not have to pay another party for the flying. The bean counters now think that AE is too expensive because we have senior ranks and thus higher labor costs than RAH or TSA, so they are putting pressure on senior captains to "move up" in their careers (a notion that has NOT been that well received).

While all of this is going on, the company realizes that they have the ability to expand ORD flying through better aircraft utilization. They further realize that there is good profit potential through this since any expanded flying would be done by new upgrade captains (who cost less) and new hire FOs (who cost almost nothing). I personally expect that if recruiting can get the numbers they need, we will get the MIA flying back and keep the expanded ORD flying.

All of that being said, the outlook for hiring looks good through about August where I would expect to see continued hiring but with smaller classes. This is all just my guesses but at least with all of this you know where the guess is coming from.

considering they are junior manning capts to fly as FO's I think hiring will continue for quite sometime.

I started class March 17th. My class had 21. The class of March 31st had 43 people in the class. The next class has over 40 confirmed.

My AE ground instructor is flowing back after this week for AA. He flowed-back to AE a few years ago and now he is going back to AA. So maybe this can point to some positive movements?

Our hotel had several AA recalled pilots last week and an APA welcome dinner. So there is another positive.

Who was your ground instructor??

.........T. Lowe

I have the AE interview this monday (14th), spoke to a captain a few days ago..said they were real short on pilots...he spoke with hr and said that they will be hiring well into the summer...again take as a grain of salt!

any tips or hints for the interview????

I'm stuck on the fence of whether to apply or continue instructing. I want to work for Eagle, but I dont want to get on with the bare minimums. Is it considered a bad thing if you get sent down to Vero Beach?

I wouldn't think bad....if anything you'll get a head start...get your mind right for when the training grind kicks in

HA HA!!! T. is hilarious! I think we heard more about golf and single-malt scotch than systems. Ask him about the "blew a seal" joke, if he hasn't told you guys already!

Tell him I said hello and good luck!

I don't work for Eagle, but do yourself a favor and get a seniority number somewhere just in case the US economy tanks and/or any more companies go under. You can always go back to flight instructing. There will always be Indians in Texas and Chinamen in Cali learning in 172s. There will always be doctors wanting to learn how to fly, and ignoring your advice and dying in their Bonanzas, at every mom & pop FBO. But getting to fly a jet south of 500 TT is a pretty rare thing in recent history, so I say get in as fast as you can and keep your CFI current.

That joke is even more fun after a late night sim session. (penguin and his car problem)

hahe, he's great. Is he going back to fly? How's his golf game?

I'm headed to florida in two weeks. Everyone has to start somewhere, and if they give you a head start by having you go to florida you'll just be more prepared for eagles training when you get there. I'm excited.

This may be nitpicking, but that is not "junior manning." Junior manning is being assigned work on your scheduled day off. Putting a reserve captain in the right seat at captain's pay is simply an assignment, albeit one that clearly demonstrates Eagle's staffing problems!

Just curious, any new word lately on what will happen to you guys once AA sells you?

There are only 71 flow-backs left on property. After they leave and are replaced, where will the additional movement come from? No expansion. No retirements. No new airplanes. Captains rarely quit and even f/o resignations are rapidly slowing now that so many have stopped hiring.

March 2008 was the first time in the last 5+years that AE hired more than they lost. They hired 5 more FOs than total pilots lost. We are seriously short on FOs and RSV CAs fly as FO on a daily basis to cover the shortages. Expect 30 newhires every 2 weeks for the remainder of the year, barring any extreme changes. After all AA flowbacks return to the mothership things will slow down considerably as far as upgrades go. Hiring will continue, but forward progress will be even slower than it is.

On a related note, there hasnt been so much as a peep out of HQ about divestiture plans, timeline, if/when it will happen. I am getting the vibe that the final decision to divest hasnt been made yet. Personally, I bet it wont happen period.

Does anyone know if Eagle still gives the written test at the interview? Ive been reading airlineinterviews.com and have not seen it and any of the recent gouges. Im just wondering if the people left it out of the gouges of Eagle isnt doing them anymore. Thanks!

I can't speak for "now". But I took the interview Feb 6th 2008. No written then.

I can say that I feel confident that they still dont have the written. Expect a techinical, HR, and sim interview.

im guessing that we will continue to operate as normal and let the barrel of oil take its toll...then hopefully we don't go t**s up! But I have noticed that we are now listed as AX instead of AE....

Hey man, I interviewed at Eagle yesterday and there was no written test. The recent gouges at airlineinterviews.com are pretty much dead on. The sim portion will either be in a Frasca or a Saab depending on the size of your group (smaller groups are Frasca only). Everyone there is really nice and they do everything they can to minimize the stress involved. I've heard some rumors about an extremely thorough company medical which included drawing blood, fasting beforehand, etc. Really it's just 2 drug tests (one DOT and one company) and a hearing test, not bad at all. Good luck on the interview!

The Astronaut Physical at AMR was changed a few years ago, now its not much to worry about at all.